Night wakings and tantrums

[LittleMissRayofHope]

My dd is 2.5 and never been a great sleeper.
Night wakings are common and she usually wants her daddy, which I have always found strange as he is always Frustrated and seems angry that she has woken and can't instantly go back to sleep.

I have just sat and cuddled her for 20 mins while she wailed, sobbed, screamed cried.
I cuddled her because she was practically convulsing in her bed. screaming no no no I want my daddy and trying to hit me.
It is distressing, he does not help by acting angry and frustrated with her, but that's a whole other thread.

How do you deal with a full blown sleepy irrational tantrum at 2am that seems to be happening because she wants to sleep on the sofa???
I have a 17wk old so I'm absolutely shattered

Are you sure it's not a night terror?

My DD does this. It is night terrors and they aren't properly awake. If I hear her start up I make sure she is ok, but try to do so without her noticing me, so generally stay out of the room. It sounds harsh and feels mean not to try to hold or console her but I have learned the hard way that if I try and calm her or interfere she gets very very worked up and it goes on far longer, with me eventually needing to 'snap' her out of it by turning the lights on or something. Left to her own devices she calms down fairly quickly and puts herself back to bed. If she calls for me I know she is awake and I will of course go to her.

Fyi, it is usually something that happens when they are overtired. A late bedtime pretty much guarantees one in this house.

Thanks for replies. She does always go to bed late :(

I cuddled her out of shock/worry. Usually I'm tougher on her and refuse to let her out of bed but I had never seen her so distressed. Maybe it was a night terror.
Can they be quite common?
Is it like they stay having dreams and don't entirely know how to handle it?

They are a bit like the baby equivalent of sleep walking. Be assured if it is a night terror, she will have absolutely no idea it is going on. My middle child used to have them when she was over tired. She would be screaming for me but I was right there with her, she had no idea because she was still asleep. Interestingly I found the opposite of SpawningSalmon, if I took her out of her room and laid on my bed (still in the dark) with her it shortened the duration, after ten minutes it would just suddenly stop. If it's any consolation she did grow out of them.

I think they are quite common from ages 2-4. They usually occur early in the night when they first go to sleep. You aren't supposed to wake them from them and they don't remember them in the morning. They are different to normal dreams/nightmares, but I am not sure how. Google will have more info for you.

I find that my DD is completely unreachable when she is having one. Weirdly she answers me and understands what I am saying to her but I can't get through to her. It is like being awake and asleep simultaneously. It's horrible.